An Ossipee mother is facing thousands of dollars in possible fines because, police said, her two daughters have missed too much school.

Mandy Patch, 34, was accused of not making sure her children attend school in a timely manner. Police said her two children each have more than 40 unexcused absences.

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"The kids need to go to school," said Sgt. Robert King. "They need to have an education."

The superintendent of Governor Wentworth Regional School District told News 9 that after 10 days of unexcused absences, the district launched an investigation into Patch's daughters. The Ossipee Police Department got involved in March.

"We ended up starting a brief investigation," King said. "We even sent one of our officers out to find out why."

Police said Patch didn't have a valid reason for the missed days, but she promised that her 12- and 14-year-old daughters would no longer be truant. King said that promise didn't last long, so police took action.

"Unfortunately, we didn't receive any cooperation on the other end, and as a last resort, we were forced to file charges," King said.

No one answered when News 9 went to Patch's home.

Law enforcement officials said chronic truancy has been an increasing problem since state lawmakers made dramatic cuts to the Children in Need of Services program in 2011. Known as CHINS, the program helped truant children get into juvenile court, where they were connected with the help they needed.

Now that it's gone, families that might have been helped by CHINS now have to utilize police resources to get their children to school.

"We had to designate time and resources to this when we certainly have a full agenda to do on a daily basis," King said.

Patch is due back in court July 17. Each of the two charges she is facing is punishable by up to a $1,000 fine.